Which species should be bred more?

[pronty]

I was just wondering about future breeding attempts.
What are rare, hard-to-get, difficult-to-breed or expensive species that should be bred more to get a decent captive population?

 

[dennis]

T. apophysis

Dennis

 

[LaRiz]

Poecilotheria.
Not just because they are pretty to look at, but because of the severe and rapid deforestation of their habitats in their natural ranges.
Also, check this link. There's some interesting reading regarding some species of special concern, endangered, threatened, etc. Most of it, involves true spiders, but there is some info on Brachypelma and another Mygalomorph
Legal Protection

 

[Chris]

I would vote G. Rosea.

The population won't support the mass numbers that are being harvested from the wild for long and the hobby is only getting more popular by the day.

A lot of people havent had much luck breeding these successfully either.

 

[invertepet]

I agree with John - Poecilotheria and all Indian species.

G. rosea hasn't been overcollected to my knowledge.

bill

 

[Rotgut Whiskey]

I would aim for the pokies, especially P. miranda and P. metallica. Due to the fact that they are very new to the trade and are very expensive. It would be great to have these species available at a cheaper and more productive price.

 

[Lostkat]

Coming from the UK, our choice of T's is far fewer than over in the states. I'd like to see more Pokies, Avics and C. cyanopubescens - ones that I will own one day

 

[ithuriel]

i agree , there arent many Ts to choose from here in the uk compared to the states mostly brachypelma species , indian ornamentals , t.blondis n a.genics plus a.avics i think too? have tried to get others but no luck , am presently trying to get a trinidad chevron but not to hopeful

 

[Lostkat]

Originally posted by ithuriel
i agree , there arent many Ts to choose from here in the uk compared to the states mostly brachypelma species , indian ornamentals , t.blondis n a.genics plus a.avics i think too? have tried to get others but no luck , am presently trying to get a trinidad chevron but not to hopeful

Hey, where abouts in Leicester are you? I come from Leicester! (in Manchester at the moment at uni)

 

[danread]

Hi ithuriel,

If you want a chevron, check out http://www.vcheeseman.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/. Admittedly the selection of Ts in this country isn't as good as the US, but it's not too bad if you hunt around.

Cheers,

Dan.

 

[ithuriel]

thanks n where in leicester saffron lane , not the council estate but right next to it , kinda nice here

 

[Wade]

I think Chris has a point. Although we don't really know if the collection of G. rosea is hurting the population, we do know that if Chile decided to cut off exporting or if the species was listed on CITES we could suddenly find them very hard to get. It's happened before, when exports of B. smithi was halted it wasn't done in response to any population studies, it was done solely on the export numbers alone. There's absolutley nothing stopping the same thing from happening with G. rosea, or other currently common and cheap species.

Although I feel we should breed all the species we can, the popular an expensive species really don't need the extra encouragement. There is plenty of finnacial incentive to breed Poecilotheria metallica, anybody who invests in those will be planning on attempting to breed them. If we (as a hobby) fail to establish them, it won't be for want of trying.

On the other had, we have G. rosea, thousands of which are imported into the US yearly, but few attempt breeding. Most slings availble are from wild collected females who dropped sacs after getting here, and I've even heard of some keepers using the slings as feeders. We have a huge gene pool for this species to draw from, there is no reason that it shouln't become firmly established in the hobby as captive bred, but will we step up to the challenge or let it slip away as we have so many other once-common, now-rare species?

Wade

 

[pronty]

*Taking notes..*

Ok, does anybody know which countries have currently banned exportation, and which species that concerns?

 

[dennis]

Check the cites website for information about wich species are illegal to export.

The url is www.cites.org. But for some strange reason the site isn't working for me atm. But afaik the only tarantula's that were on the list were Brachypelma's and Aphonopelma's.

Dennis

 

[Henry Kane]

Originally posted by Wade
I think Chris has a point. Although we don't really know if the collection of G. rosea is hurting the population, we do know that if Chile decided to cut off exporting or if the species was listed on CITES we could suddenly find them very hard to get. It's happened before, when exports of B. smithi was halted it wasn't done in response to any population studies, it was done solely on the export numbers alone. There's absolutley nothing stopping the same thing from happening with G. rosea, or other currently common and cheap species.

Although I feel we should breed all the species we can, the popular an expensive species really don't need the extra encouragement. There is plenty of finnacial incentive to breed Poecilotheria metallica, anybody who invests in those will be planning on attempting to breed them. If we (as a hobby) fail to establish them, it won't be for want of trying.

On the other had, we have G. rosea, thousands of which are imported into the US yearly, but few attempt breeding. Most slings availble are from wild collected females who dropped sacs after getting here, and I've even heard of some keepers using the slings as feeders. We have a huge gene pool for this species to draw from, there is no reason that it shouln't become firmly established in the hobby as captive bred, but will we step up to the challenge or let it slip away as we have so many other once-common, now-rare species?

Wade

I fully agree Wade. It would be nice to interrupt (or at least reduce) the cycle before it became a problem. Not to mention the gross conditions in which G. rosea are caught and imported. The same stands for any mass collected w/c species from South America to Asia and so forth.
The hobby could benefit from captive breeding of any species. Certain species have their place in order of priority of course. (Poecilotheria for example)

Atrax

 

[Steve Nunn]

Didn't troll (ATS enthusiast list) say there was something like 10000 G.rosea exported each year, now that's criminal!

My vote for needing to be bred too.

Steve

 

[petitegreeneyes]

I vote Poecs too

 

[Steve Nunn]

Originally posted by monantony
Rick West has thrown the 50,000 number out before.... I wonder where online USFWS #'s are available. I did find USFWS #'s on pokes before...
Tony

Hi Tony,
I don't know. If you find the location, I'd love to see it though.

Geez, 50000 is amazing, no population can sustain itself properly with numbers like those being taken. There's also the chance collectors will clean out a new species which may look similar to G.rosea (or an older one like G.cala?) without that species ever being correctly ID'd.

Scary on so many levels......

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Nixy]

I've had my eyes out for a boyfriend for our two rosies.
I've been in every petshop that sells rosies looking for one too.

 

[pronty]

I was browsing the CITES site and found out that in the species there was Brachypelma mesomelas. Isn't this Megaphobema mesomelas nowadays? Is is still in the CITES despite the different name?
It is very nice looking species and not very common in the hobby.